Old Kilts

[xman]

Wondering about the true lifespan of a highland kilt I ask you, please to show us your old kilts and tell us how they're wearing these days?

[creagdhubh]

Wondering about the true lifespan of a highland kilt I ask you, please to show us your old kilts and tell us how they're wearing these days?

My clan chief, Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, TD, wears a kilt in the dress Macpherson and the hunting Macpherson, in which both have been passed down to him. Cluny is currently 82 years old and he told me, after being asked, that his kilts are roughly his age, if not 20 or 30 years older.

[Wompet]

The last time that this came up, I think that someone mentioned having an hundred or hundred-and-ten year old kilt.
But I have been known to misremember things.

[Nick the DSM]

I do believe Matt Newsome owns (museum) a kilt from the mid 1850s or so.

[xman]

... I think that someone mentioned having an hundred or hundred-and-ten year old kilt.

But what does it look like. Perhaps I should have posted this in the pics section. I want close-ups.

[sydnie7]

There's age, then there's miles. One of my nephews wears his great-grandfather's kilt (nephew wore it to be married in, to the annual Clan dinner, that's about it). Canadian G-grandfather is pictured wearing it during a royal visit to Canada in perhaps the 1950s. The kilt then spent several decades carefully wrapped and stored in a freezer before being passed on. So it's got some age, but maybe not the expected mileage.

Here are some previous threads on the topic (hard to find, as "age" kicks out of the search function):
What XMarker owns oldest kilt
The oldest kilt

[xman]

Here are some previous threads on the topic (hard to find, as "age" kicks out of the search function):
What XMarker owns oldest kilt
The oldest kilt

CHEERS!

[BoldHighlander]

Not the best picture, but one I located of Clan Mackay USA VP Mark Bain wearing his grandfather's WW1 kilt (Royal Scots Fusiliers /Black Watch):



I guess he wears it as often as possible.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Well, we have kilts in the museum that date back to c. 1800-1820, but we don't go about wearing those! :-)

The oldest kilt I personally own is a MacGregor kilt that is probably 80 to 90 years old at this point. I bought it second hand years ago when I was first building my kilt wardrobe. I don't wear it that often, partly because I'm not a MacGregor, and partly due to its age. But it still wears just fine. Here's a pic of when I wore it a couple of years ago to meet Capt. Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor, chief of the clan.


Here I am at the Stone Mountain Highland Games (judging by the age of my son in that photo, this would have to have been 2004), examining the kilt being worn by the Chief of Clan Ramsey. I believe he said it belonged to his grandfather. It was made in hard tartan, and definitely dated to the latter nineteenth century.

[davidlpope]

Here I am at the Stone Mountain Highland Games (judging by the age of my son in that photo, this would have to have been 2004), examining the kilt being worn by the Chief of Clan Ramsey. I believe he said it belonged to his grandfather. It was made in hard tartan, and definitely dated to the latter nineteenth century.

Matt,

It appears from the photo that his kilt is knife pleated- do you remember any other details (yardage, lined?, etc.)?

Cordially,

David